


Green Tale

by in4sil3ntway



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 21:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20070883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/in4sil3ntway/pseuds/in4sil3ntway
Summary: This is a small fairy tale about a girl who finds herself in a forest.





	Green Tale

It started like a dream, a multi-colored nightmare. She hoped for it to be an unwanted vision until the creature touched her. The gentle touch brought to her the terrifying sense of how surreal yet real everything was. She could clearly see the creature woven of green vines and leaves as big as her palm. It stroked her cheek with something that resembled a finger and she could feel the rough side of a leaf pushing against her soft skin. For a moment she couldn't move, then she let a muffled shriek and ran away breaking through mossy roots blocking her way, branches scratching her face and endless evergreen maze closing on her from every side. 

Finally, powerless she collapsed onto the soft ground and took a deep breath. Her hair had been messed up, face was covered in scratches and her skirt was covered in dirty green stains. She sobbed. She hugged herself. She passed out. When she woke up, her mind was twisted, it felt like strings tied into a tight knot, which pulsed with piercing pain.

She had no clear idea where she was. She knew who she was but her mind simply could not grasp and understand the place she was in. Her throat suddenly became strained, she started gasping for air. If she opened her eyes it seemed to her as an infinite web of straight and curved lines bright and colorful, she saw shapes and forms, moving and sliding objects and defining noise. She closed her eyes and ears. She was afraid that she could not withstand this madness, it splattered her brain and mind. She wished it would all end. She curled up, groaning in pain. She opened her eyes, still holding her ears closed with her hands. Twisting and turning, clashing and uniting, disappearing and appearing again - many lines and colors. She tried to focus and freeze the shifting shapes. Her eyes hurt and muscles were tense. Then the colors stated taking form, as if they were filling molds where they should have been. She saw a tall brown shape and a green blanket laying atop it. A tree. Other trees emerged, their trunk rising high and crones blocking the sky. She was amazed. The trees were ancient, moss creeping up on them and vines handing down from their strong branches. Hesitantly, she put down her hands. She heard the noise. It was the shiver of leaves and creak of sturdy tree trunks. Then she looked down - her feet were sunken into a one-colored mass. It made her feet feel unpleasant. It was soft and wet moss spread underneath the crones of the trees covering fallen branches, tree trunks and hillocks. It smelled of bog and rotten water. Then she spotted blurred stains wandering and flashing between the trees in the corner of her eye. They were oval with sprouts of different yet the same colors. They moved swiftly. Those were frightened animals. She saw boars and dears rambling around her and not approaching. She sighed and sat bowing her head. Her forehead hurt. 

A puddle of dirty water was next to her. She put her hand into it. It was cool. She washed her face then spit, it tasted like earth. She examined herself. Her shoes were gone, skirt was thorn and hands bled a little. She got up. The sun was high but down there, under the crones, it was not hot. She started moving forward, heading to somewhere else. She tried her best not to think of the creature of leaves that was left behind. Gusts of wind blowing leaves on the trees upward made her shiver and flinch. She hurried.  
She passed between gigantic trees, ducked underneath low-hanging vines and slowly made her way through the forest. All out of the sudden she recognized a new sound – yet it was soft and seemed distant it sounded like waves crushing against the shore. Her feet were weary but she managed to make this last dash and ended up on a broad sandy beach looking at the azure sea. She looked back. It was bizarre how tall trees stood high against the endless sea. She stepped into the water, it was warm and pleasant. She sat into the water feeling small waves washing against her body. Looking around she spotted a couple of strangely big crabs, a flock of birds here and there flying in the sky or attacking the water. She got up feeling refreshed, though her skirt was soaking wet. She could only hope for it to dry while she was under the sun on the beach. She went along the beach for how long she could tell not, as the sun did not seem to set down. As the beach stretched to the south there always were high trees, hot sand and salty sea. On the beach she saw some wild animals which did not look like anything she knew – they had four short trunks, long body, purplish fur covering it and wide hooves. Those animals scavenged the beach and dug something out of the sand and ate it. They were not afraid of her and neither was she, as she even managed to lay her hand on one of them. 

Beneath the shadow of the first line of trees, where the sand met the land she found bird nests and eggs a bit bigger then chicken eggs in them. Back in her home she enjoyed eating raw eggs. Her mother had always told her that it was a part of a perfect breakfast for a lady. She cracked one of the eggs. It smelled like goose egg. She ate it and wiped her mouth clean. It was not too delicious but it helped her carry on. She went a little further into the forest. It was all the same. She wondered if she was going in circles. She saw some fruits on bushes and on some plants rising from the moss. They looked disgusting and she dared not to eat them. 

Still she was very hungry and the sun was setting down at last. She looked for some kind of stick. She found one occasionally, shorter than her arm but it had a pointy end. She made her way back to the beach. After a hundred steps she saw two crabs clumsily fighting with their claws over some kind of water plant that looked like a tube. She came up to them and with all her strength she pierced one with the stick. The end went through crabs body. It twitched. The other crab fled, it seemed to had forgotten about the feud. She raised the stick with the crab and went to the forest. On her way she found some weighty rocks and pocketed them.  
She went deeper into the forest feeling uneasy. She gathered some wood and laid it in the driest place. She could feel eyes watching her back. The firewood was just fine, not too wet, as she gathered it closer to the beach. She pulled out two rocks and started hitting one with the other. The sun was then gone. She continued her labor. She saw a spark. She felt animals stirring nearby. She felt eyes closely watching her. She hit the rocks once more. The flame started and spread over her firewood, pushing the night away. She heard load squeaks and roars and sound of many hooves fleeing. She was excited. 

She stretched her arms over the flame to warm herself up. The warmth spread across her body from the tips of her fingers to the feet. She pick up the stick with the pierced crab – she had no clear idea of how to eat it, so she simply put it in the flames hoping that fire would make her food taste better. She heard squirts and squeaks of roasting meat. The sound seemed delighting to her. A couple of minutes later she pulled out the stick. The crab was charred but when the shell was cracked the meat revealed itself to be quite mouthwatering. She took a bite. It was sea-salty and hard to chew but the hunger made her tongue insensible. She quickly devoured the crab, her face was wet with the meat juice so she wiped it with a hand. She dared not use herbs and leaves growing nearby for she was afraid of poison that might had been found there. It was already pitch dark, only the flames lit nearby surroundings. Her ears caught various beasts’ sounds coming from the depth of the forest. She clenched her teeth.  
The meal made her thirsty and she started looking around for another puddle of water, but there was none as this part of the forest seemed much drier after all. She was about to rise and search for water when a gentle whisper came into her hearing. In fact it was not whispering but leaves rustling. She saw a figure with two green eyes approaching from the darkness. She was unable to move. The creature was human-like, but higher than an average man, more slander, with thin and long limbs, she could see something like horns atop the creatures head. She bended down and picked up a thick and heavy burning branch from the fire. She stepped forward and the creature came into the light. It shivered. It was afraid of the flame, but stood its grounds. She examined it. Woven of leaves and vines with some implications of wood on its breast arms and legs. Its horns were weirdly twisted and made of wood as well. Inside it there was a certain green light, like many fireflies were trapped within its rib cage. She approached it. The creature turned its pointy head to her. It stretched its arm and opened the palm, on it there opened something that resembled a flower, but a very lush one which smelled very sweet. The flower was covered in a thin layer of sticky liquid which shone in the light and there was some kind of fruit inside the blossom - a small orange grape. She felt vomit coming up her throat. She was disgusted. She was disgusted by the fruit. The fact that the creature offered her something made her disgusted. She was disgusted by the creature’s presence. She was disgusted by its existence. She pulled forward, her head light yet clear. The creature stepped forward with its palm open. The girl stopped, she breathed heavily, she was shaking, and with a loud cry she raised the branch and crushed it on creatures’s head. There came a high-pitched shriek. The half of the branch bursted and a gust of sparks rained down onto the creature. It backed. She quickly pick up another burning stick and rushed forward landing a hit after a hit on the creature. It took every blow with a cry but could do nothing. Her fury was unstoppable. The stick got stuck in the vines and leaves of the creatures body and she reaped it back and continued the onslaught. The creature caught on fire. It let an inhuman scream and fell onto its knees. She kicked its breast with her foot and burning remains of the creature’s body were scattered. She was not contented. She was not yet done. She kicked the fire and the burning logs mixed with the burning remains. The great fire started. It spread across the grass, claimed the trees, jumped from branch to branch and devoured everything that stood in its way. She watched the forest burn. The fire was all around her, hot and violet. It felt like the end. Her skirt then was on fire. She let it burn. She gave herself up to the beautiful nature of the flame. It did not hurt.

She was awoken by her manservant, who complained about his mistress being too sleepy. She bid him good morning and asked whether her father had returned from the hunt. A short “no” came as the answer. She could not care less. She asked to be brought breakfast into her bed and laid down for awhile, savoring the ashes on her lips left by an uneasy dream.


End file.
